An intriguing combination of electronica, dance and trance, the Disposable Rocket Band -based in Albany - has a wildly adventurous new CD in "Apocalyptic Propulsion Unit." The brainchild of Mat Kane, who writes all the songs, plays mandolin and guitar to a drum machine and sequencer; Kane and Terry McClain produced it quite inventively.

"Your Master's Voice," starts with a Geiger counter keyboard. Soon, a guitar drenched in echo plays warm long expressions, and then turns in to some nasty, crunch chords.

Wait, it's not a guitar, it's an electric 5-string mandolin, fed through a battery of effects. That makes for a slightly different approach that has it's own unique rewards, the most obvious being that typical, cliché parts are avoided, often just because the tuning is different, and you can't fall into the usual predictable guitar patterns.

"P1 Loading Dock" actually has a backbeat (for a while) and a dreamy circular riff the fall back on. Then it takes of on rocket number nine for planets yet uncharted.

In "The Singularity," low tones, the power chords then fall into a hyper melody, the mysterious "Dispossessed Fabricants" starts out with keyboard confetti falling from the skies, then settles into an incessant, hypnotic pattern.

A sure highlight has to be the mandolin-driven "Spliffs Of Dover" which is poking fun, or maybe a tribute to Eric Johnson's "Cliffs Of Dover"? Either way, the deft mandolin work here floats above the propulsive track, and the result is pure pleasure. And boy, can he play.

Kane's keen vision with Disposable Rocket Band is complex and yet, accessible, and his futuristic music would be equally at home in and dance club, a rave or festival, or a late night drive home alone.